Espionage scandal: Romanian non-commissioned officer sells state secrets to Bulgarian spy

Marţi, 3 martie 2009, 18:29 English | Top News

The Organized Crime and Terrorism Division of the Romanian Interior Ministry took into custody a Romanian low-rank officer, Floricel Achim, and a Bulgarian citizen, Marinov Zikolov. According to judicial sources, Achim sold state secrets to Zikolov, who sent it further to a non-ally state, through a complex network, organized as an intelligence service.

Achim and Zikolov have 29-days arrest warrants, but filed an appeal and expect a sentence for paroled release on Thursday. The Romanian non-commissioned officer admitted he was selling secrets for 1,000 US Dollars or less.

The Bulgarian citizen only said that he knew an Ukrainian official interested in military information.

The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) announced that the Counterespionage Division was monitoring Achim's actions since 2005. Even more, the Service already had data about Zikolov's activities. SRI did not confirm that the destination of the document stolen by Achim was Russia.